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Shaping Things to Come

Shaping Things to Come Aircraft Engineering THE MONTHLY ORGAN OF THE AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSION VOL XXVII No 312 FEBRUARY 1955 flight with ,thin wings, i.e. improve structural efficiency; ease and rapidity (and therefore economy) of production; and other aero­ E congratulate the Southern Section of the Institution of dynamic requirements of improved surface finish. The three needs Production Engineers on persisting in organizing confer­ taken together constitute a formidable, and indeed irresistible, Wences on aircraft production, in spite of some rather necessity which designers and production engineers inevitably must unenthusiastic comment after the first. The third, lately held in face. It is the general realization of this, no doubt, that inspired the Southampton, was on all hands agreed to be the most successful, organizers to lay down the subject for the conference to discuss. and we can imagine nothing more gratifying for the organizers of Ideally, an attractive method of production for designers would be any 'get-together'. It is impossible for our report to be prepared in the forging of parts such as wing panels, but at the present stage of time to appear until our next issue, but it may be interesting mean­ development, and for a good many years to come, it would seem while to set down some reflexions engendered by the papers and dis­ more economical to machine these from forged slabs. cussions. Integral construction will presumably make possible the use of The theme for discussion—and it may be that success was largely thicker skins and this will necessitate a revision of ideas on materials; due to the choice of a definite subject which kept the possible range which may well bring steel back into the picture and hasten the of the talks within limits—was integral construction compared with introduction of titanium. more conventional methods. Initially, of course, this raises the A general question which was raised in the discussion is whether question: what is integral construction? the Ministry of Supply might not now—if indeed it has not already begun to do so, at any rate vicariously through development con­ An Indefinite Term tracts placed through the aircraft firms—subsidize expenditure on The term is a general one which seems to cover several ideas production research and development in the same way that basic which are essentially different. and ad hoc research on design have been supported. The machine (1) Machining from flat plate stock skins with stiffeners, or tool industry—notably in one particular instance—has done yeoman local reinforcement, afterwards formed to shape. service by developing machines, as what would be known in the aircraft industry as 'private ventures'. It has, however, already been (2) Machining from forged or rolled slabs major airframe pointed out that there is a limit to activity in this direction as the components such as fuselage frames, spars, root joint fittings number of such machines required by the aircraft industry is, and and ribs. will always be, inevitably few compared with the output of more (3) The forging of such components and possibly also rein­ universal types of machine tools with a ready assured sale in the forced skin panels. general engineering industry. It undoubtedly is asking a great deal (4) Machining from slabs wing or other skins with stiffeners of enthusiasm and professional pride from a firm to devote much of and generated aerofoil sections. its energies to what is after all from the financial point of view a side issue with necessarily uncertain results. Of these, (1) and (2) are already in being and machine tools are being developed, or already in existence, at reasonable cost, as A Question of Policy M R RADCLIFFE showed in his paper. The difficulty in process (3) is that it seems impossible, in the forseeable future, to put the forging Arising out of all this, there is another wide question concerning industry in a position to produce components of the size required. the organization of the aircraft industry itself. The British industry So far as this country is concerned the largest press available, of comprises approximately the same number of individual firms as 12,000 tons, produces components approximately 4 feet by 1 foot does the American which has something like twenty times the amount and a 50,000-ton press would be limited to parts of something in the of money to spend. This obviously raises the point of the desirability order of four times this area. MESSRS KEEN and MENZIES, on the of some form of rationalization. There are several ways in which this other hand, illustrate in their paper a Meteor tail plane of consider­ might be done. Certain firms could become definitely, as they are to ably larger dimensions already produced by methods (4) and (1). The a large extent already, sub-contractors for the production of com­ provision of the very large and powerful presses needed to produce ponents. An alternative, or concurrent, development, would be for components of this order and larger would put a wholly dispropor­ some firms to confine their activities to research. A not unimportant tionate burden on the Industry. aspect of the question is the extreme shortage of, and competition for, design office staff. It might be advantageous to concentrate those In parenthesis, the reasons for the desirability of integral con­ obtainable, at any rate of the higher quality, in a small number of struction—in the general sense of the formation of a structural firms who would be relied upon to produce designs. Clearly this is a member of an aircraft as a single whole as opposed to the assembly thorny question on which there is much to be said. We merely of a large number of separate elements—are, it would seem: to bring it into the open. ensure the necessary strength or rigidity in conditions of modern http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology Emerald Publishing

Shaping Things to Come

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology , Volume 27 (2): 1 – Feb 1, 1955
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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0002-2667
DOI
10.1108/eb032521
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Abstract

Aircraft Engineering THE MONTHLY ORGAN OF THE AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSION VOL XXVII No 312 FEBRUARY 1955 flight with ,thin wings, i.e. improve structural efficiency; ease and rapidity (and therefore economy) of production; and other aero­ E congratulate the Southern Section of the Institution of dynamic requirements of improved surface finish. The three needs Production Engineers on persisting in organizing confer­ taken together constitute a formidable, and indeed irresistible, Wences on aircraft production, in spite of some rather necessity which designers and production engineers inevitably must unenthusiastic comment after the first. The third, lately held in face. It is the general realization of this, no doubt, that inspired the Southampton, was on all hands agreed to be the most successful, organizers to lay down the subject for the conference to discuss. and we can imagine nothing more gratifying for the organizers of Ideally, an attractive method of production for designers would be any 'get-together'. It is impossible for our report to be prepared in the forging of parts such as wing panels, but at the present stage of time to appear until our next issue, but it may be interesting mean­ development, and for a good many years to come, it would seem while to set down some reflexions engendered by the papers and dis­ more economical to machine these from forged slabs. cussions. Integral construction will presumably make possible the use of The theme for discussion—and it may be that success was largely thicker skins and this will necessitate a revision of ideas on materials; due to the choice of a definite subject which kept the possible range which may well bring steel back into the picture and hasten the of the talks within limits—was integral construction compared with introduction of titanium. more conventional methods. Initially, of course, this raises the A general question which was raised in the discussion is whether question: what is integral construction? the Ministry of Supply might not now—if indeed it has not already begun to do so, at any rate vicariously through development con­ An Indefinite Term tracts placed through the aircraft firms—subsidize expenditure on The term is a general one which seems to cover several ideas production research and development in the same way that basic which are essentially different. and ad hoc research on design have been supported. The machine (1) Machining from flat plate stock skins with stiffeners, or tool industry—notably in one particular instance—has done yeoman local reinforcement, afterwards formed to shape. service by developing machines, as what would be known in the aircraft industry as 'private ventures'. It has, however, already been (2) Machining from forged or rolled slabs major airframe pointed out that there is a limit to activity in this direction as the components such as fuselage frames, spars, root joint fittings number of such machines required by the aircraft industry is, and and ribs. will always be, inevitably few compared with the output of more (3) The forging of such components and possibly also rein­ universal types of machine tools with a ready assured sale in the forced skin panels. general engineering industry. It undoubtedly is asking a great deal (4) Machining from slabs wing or other skins with stiffeners of enthusiasm and professional pride from a firm to devote much of and generated aerofoil sections. its energies to what is after all from the financial point of view a side issue with necessarily uncertain results. Of these, (1) and (2) are already in being and machine tools are being developed, or already in existence, at reasonable cost, as A Question of Policy M R RADCLIFFE showed in his paper. The difficulty in process (3) is that it seems impossible, in the forseeable future, to put the forging Arising out of all this, there is another wide question concerning industry in a position to produce components of the size required. the organization of the aircraft industry itself. The British industry So far as this country is concerned the largest press available, of comprises approximately the same number of individual firms as 12,000 tons, produces components approximately 4 feet by 1 foot does the American which has something like twenty times the amount and a 50,000-ton press would be limited to parts of something in the of money to spend. This obviously raises the point of the desirability order of four times this area. MESSRS KEEN and MENZIES, on the of some form of rationalization. There are several ways in which this other hand, illustrate in their paper a Meteor tail plane of consider­ might be done. Certain firms could become definitely, as they are to ably larger dimensions already produced by methods (4) and (1). The a large extent already, sub-contractors for the production of com­ provision of the very large and powerful presses needed to produce ponents. An alternative, or concurrent, development, would be for components of this order and larger would put a wholly dispropor­ some firms to confine their activities to research. A not unimportant tionate burden on the Industry. aspect of the question is the extreme shortage of, and competition for, design office staff. It might be advantageous to concentrate those In parenthesis, the reasons for the desirability of integral con­ obtainable, at any rate of the higher quality, in a small number of struction—in the general sense of the formation of a structural firms who would be relied upon to produce designs. Clearly this is a member of an aircraft as a single whole as opposed to the assembly thorny question on which there is much to be said. We merely of a large number of separate elements—are, it would seem: to bring it into the open. ensure the necessary strength or rigidity in conditions of modern

Journal

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology – Emerald Publishing

Published: Feb 1, 1955

There are no references for this article.